Married In Masks
by AstroLatte
Summary: Adrien felt his heart jump into his throat when the woman before him removed her red mask to reveal the face of his wife. "Marinette…" he gasped, nearly forgetting he had unmasked himself first. "You're Ladybug?"


"Quick, inside!" Ladybug called over her shoulder as she swung through the broken window of an abandoned warehouse. On her heels, Chat Noir leaped through the entryway, landing on the dusty floor gracefully. Outside the sounds of dogs barking and late night taxis driving sleepy tourists back to hotels tore through the night. In the distance, he could also hear sirens of the Paris police chasing criminals who hopefully didn't come with magical powers.

Pausing for a moment, Chat inspected the area before finding his partner standing on a tall pile of wooden crates. "It's clear, we should be good."

Ladybug nodded before pulling out her yo-yo, flinging it high into the air. Chat watched the familiar scene attentively, arms crossed as a tiny box of red matches fell into her hand. Raising an eyebrow, he turned to the young woman.

"You taking up smoking, Ladybug?" he quipped with a smirk, but was ignored by the brunette who was inspecting the objects around them.

The days of him using terms of affection such as "My Lady" had ended when he started dating seriously in his real life. Ladybug never seemed to ask about the tonal change and Chat chalked it up to the two of them both maturing.

Just as he had, the woman before him had grown a lot since they first began their fights against akuma. Her hair was no longer tied into pigtails, but held back into a high ponytail with the familiar red ribbon. Still clad in her red and black polka dot jumpsuit, her figure was no longer that of a teenage girl, but of an athletic woman. She still retained some of her quirks however, like wrinkling her nose when she was trying to figure out a problem or biting her thumbnail while she was in thought.

It was the small things about Ladybug that reminded him of the woman he fell in love with outside of their crime fighting. Much had changed in their five years of being partners, the biggest of which was his letting go of his feelings for his alter ego's partner and focusing on the life he lived as Adrien Agreste. This had allowed him to appreciate the people in his life, separate himself from his father and fall in love with the girl who would later become his wife.

He kept both his lives separate, never telling his wife about his part-time job as the famous Chat Noir. Ladybug, as well, had never revealed any insight from her own personal life. The best he could get from her was that they were both the same age and maybe classmates at one time. That was it, really, and it was all easier that way.

"His power is the ability to become solid concrete," he heard Ladybug explain, eyeing the walls around them with skepticism. "We need to find something to soften him up."

After years of working together, it didn't take long for Chat to get on the same wavelength as his counterpart. Quickly, his attention shifted upward to where several sprinklers sprouted from the drop ceiling.

"Ladybug, above you!"

Her head flew upwards just as the walls of the warehouse started to crackle. Instantly, Chat was in the air with his claws outstretched.

"Trigger the sprinklers while I distract him," he called over his shoulder, muttering to himself. "Somehow…"

He saw a flash of red jump towards the ceiling from his peripheral as he zeroed-in on the quickly crumbling wall. The space exploded with debris as the tall, gray, block monster appeared. More stone than man, the akuma looked like a humanized boulder. Covered in pebbles from back to front, its spine was protruding from between its gray ears. Its legs and arms were muscular and blocky, an ideal combination for smashing through walls.

"Miraculous...must...perish…" it growled, swinging its arms towards Chat, who avoided it easily. Though powerful, being made of stone was lumbering.

" _Mais non, mon petit caillou,_ " Chat teased as he dodged another swing, landing a kick in the golem's face. "Miraculous must live and clean up after annoying rocks like you!"

The monster grunted, staggering backwards a few steps before stopping. Chat felt his leg begin to throb, a sign that the kick to the monster's face wasn't the best idea. Looking over his shoulder, he caught a glance of Ladybug still struggling to trigger the sprinklers.

"Ladybug!" he shouted, barely dodging another stony punch. "Hurry!"

"I'm trying!" she called back, swinging from sprinkler to sprinkler with her yo-yo. "The sprinklers are clogged!"

"Clogged?!"

"I got it, just hold him off a little longer!"

The conversation almost cost Chat a punch to the gut, but luckily his reflexes were faster and he was able to redirect the monster into a tower of crates. Jumping to an adjacent pile, he leered down at the barreling monster below him. While Ladybug struggled, he had to figure out a way to lure the bumbling akuma towards wherever she had swung off towards.

Sticking two claws into his mouth, Chat let out a high pitch whistle which gained the monster's attention.

" _Hé, petit caillou!_ " he called, causing the monster to snarl. "You want my ring, yes?"

The monster let out a roar, pounding its chest in a rage.

"Then you better catch me!" he winked and was off like a rocket.

He leaped from crate to crate while the stone monster trampled through the crates below. In their wake, the crash of broken wood ratted against the floor and Chat found himself losing his footing on a few crates that were already mist-fall thanks to the blundering boulder monster below.

"Chat!" he heard as he landed on the top of a Cherry Picker, a tower of boxes falling in his wake. He turned his attention to Ladybug, whose matches had finally caused the sprinkler system to set off an alarm. "I got it to work!"

"Great!" Chat grinned, thumbing behind him. "Blockhead is right behind m-"

He was cut short by a large, looming shadow overcoming him. Turning quickly, Chat managed to catch a glimpse of the monster, who had managed to climb along the Cherry Picker at remarkable speed. Chat didn't have enough time to brace himself before a large, stone fist made contact with his abdomen, sending him flying off the top of the picker.

"CHAT!" Ladybug screamed and flung herself towards him as the sirens rang out in the warehouse, quickly releasing water from the sprinklers above. The water hitting the stone monster in the face, pushing him off the picker to land heavily on the ground below.

Chat coughed painfully, Ladybug swinging to his side and attempted to help him sit up. Groaning as he tried to recover from having the wind knocked out of him, he felt the familiar pain of his shoulder and back stinging from the impact.

"Chat…" she sighed, taking one of his hands. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he hissed, making a valiant effort to sit up despite the pain. "Probably only a sprain..."

"What are you doing, you silly kitty?" she fussy, pulling him back down by the arm. "He's only temporary knocked out. You can't fight an akuma like this!"

"Yes I can…" he grunted, pushing her away. "I need to find his item...so you can purify the akuma...and we can go home…"

"Chat, stop!" Ladybug begged, holding him by the arms. "He'll overpower you! You can't fight like this!"

A roar broke through their conversation, the monster making its way towards them over the obstacle of wooden crates around them. The sprinklers had weakened it, though now the monster was less like a compacted boulder with arms and more a large, sticky, amorphous pile of cement. With another howl, it launched itself towards Ladybug, taking hold of her in its gooey grip.

"Ladybug!" Chat yelled, powering up his cataclysm attack to free her. Once ripped out of the monster's grasp, he grabbed his partner and barrel-rolled out of its path towards safety.

Between the sprinklers and his attack, Chat knew that the monster was weakening. Though, as the lack of lights on his ring were any indication, so was he.

Falling to the ground, he panted heavily while Ladybug regained herself as the sprinklers drenched them. He knew he was nearing the point where his ring would begin to ring, signaling the end of his transformation. From the corner of his eye, he saw from Ladybug's exhausted look that she was no different. He wondered in the back of his mind why they continued, half a decade later, to hide from each other.

He was broken from his thoughts by Ladybug punching him in the ear.

"Ow!" he cried, rubbing his now sore ear with a wince. "What was that?"

"For being an idiot!" she scolded, her blue eyes fierce under her mask. "I told you not to interfere and you didn't listen to me!"

"Because you needed my help!" he argued. "I'm not going to leave you to be Block Brunch!"

"What if something had happened to you, Chat?" she hissed, eyeing the crates behind them. "Something...permanent."

Chat felt his heart sink, the face of his wife flashing his in mind. Instantly, he was pulled from his Miraculous self and his mind was back as Adrien. He thought of his wife back home, sleeping soundly in their bed. Completely unaware of that he was out trying to save Paris from a villains even she never knew existed.

He stared in awe as Ladybug stood up, her back towards him while she stared at the fallen crates.

"I saw the object of the monsters affection when he grabbed me," she explained, looking over her shoulder to look him in the eye. "It's a pocket watch and-"

"Ladybug," he interrupted, standing to his feet slowly. "I need...I need to tell you something."

"Uh, right now?" she blinked, turning around to face him. "Chat, we need to purify the akuma."

"I know, but I'm running out of time," he said, motioning to his ring. "Ladybug...I need you to know who I am, in case something does happen to me. Something permanent."

Ladybug stared in shocked silence as her partner raised his hand to his face. With one swoop, his mask was removed, showing her his face. Adrien Agreste, world renowned model and fashion icon, stared at his long-term partner for the first time.

"I need you to protect my family if something does happen to me," he explained. "I need you to know, so you can tell them."

"Oh my god," Ladybug gasped, running to catch him as he fell to his knees, his blonde hair sticking to his forehead. "Adrien...oh my god…"

"I guess I don't need an introduction," he laughed humorlessly. "My real face is kind of famous."

"No….no it's not that," Ladybug shook her head, gritting her teeth. "It's just...oh my god, I can't believe I never figured it out…that you were in front of me this entire time."

"Ladybug?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously. "What are you talking about?"

"Us, you silly kitty."

Adrien felt his heart jump into his throat when the woman before him removed her red mask to reveal the face of his wife.

"Marinette…." he gasped, nearly forgetting he had unmasked himself first. "You're Ladybug?"

"Yes," she said, trying to hold back the nervous laughter as she held her husband tightly, burrowing her face in his shoulder. "It's always been me."

"How did we never...after all this time…" he gasped, shifting in her arms so he could see her face again. "We never figured it out…"

"I suppose we never asked," she smiled, returning her mask and holding his hand in hers. The sound of the cement monster howling came closer. "But we don't have time to dwell on our discovery, we need to finish this."

"Yes," he nodded, replacing his own mask with a swoop before standing back up. "Are you ready, my lady?"

"Always," she smiled, squeezing his gloved hand tightly. " _Mon amour._ "


End file.
